1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to optical fiber communication apparatus and more specifically to apparatus for supporting bundles of fiber optics and for providing routing support to individual optical fibers of a bundle.
2. Description of Related Art Including Information Disclosed Under 37 CFR 1.97 and 1.98
The telecommunications industry is using more and more optical or light fibers in lieu of copper wire. Optical fibers have an extremely high band width thereby allowing significantly more information than can be carried by a copper wire.
However, of course, for most cities there already exists an infrastructure of copper wiring for telephonic communications, which infrastructure is only slowly being upgraded and improved by modem techniques. As a result, upgrading present communications systems to include more and more optical fiber transmission paths typically occurs as an upgrading event. Therefore, an optical fiber distribution terminal cabinet may initially have a single panel for the distribution of optical fibers. Eventually, however, additional panels or equipment also requiring the use of optical fibers will likely occur. The continuing adding of more and more optical fibers, optical fiber panels, and equipment creates a need for apparatus to provide neat and convenient techniques for routing the fibers for ready identification and connections.